Economic Disparity

For the past few weeks, the nation’s attention has focused on an unlikely epicenter of race relations, a Quik-Trip convenience store about fifteen miles north of St. Louis. It was there that 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was gunned down by a white police officer, and it is there that a groundswell of sympathy and frustration has prompted the community, and nation, to act. The town of Ferguson was rocked by this tragic event, and has responded in an incredible way – by organizing.

AN AUG. 5 editorial praised Walmart for providing nontraditional banking options for the “underbanked” in select stores. While offering simple financial services such as low-cost check cashing sounds like a good idea, we are left to wonder what is motivating the largest retailer in the world to enter into this business. On the surface this looks like Walmart is providing a needed service to the community, but we don’t need to dig deep to see that this is another strategy to increase profits.

What did April 15th mean to you? Well, it was Tax Day, for one thing—and though it may, for many, represent the very ordinary American ritual of (reluctantly) handing your hard-earned income over to the government, for us at United for a Fair Economy, it’s an opportunity. Very simply, it’s an opportunity to talk about why taxes (and the critical public sector for which they provide a foundation and ongoing sustenance) are important.